Initial thoughts...
So last weekend my wife and my family decided to go see the movie I Am Legend. Now I warn you, I will do my best to keep spoilers out of here but I apologize if I ruin anything for anyone. It looked like a decent enough film and one to be filled with the some of best CG we've ever seen. I saw the previews and was stunned by a mind-blowing vision of the future, one filled with broken down buildings, deer running through the streets of a dead long island, and a man, left alone in the world with only his dog to keep him company. He was not alone though, and something made it hard to sleep at night. Cool premise, nice visuals, I figured why not.
The Story So Far...
I have to say this, first and foremost. If you've never been to a movie theater with digital projects, go. Unfortunately all the cities I've lived in have suffered with old grainy, pan scratched film that looks just plain awful. Somehow though I've gotten past its dismal appeal and enjoyed the mystique of the cinema. I was spoiled last weekend though when I went to my parents cinema, the Palace, in Bloomington, Illinois and got to see digital cinema at its best. Let me tell you, it is just plain cool, and if you get the chance, go. That being said I currently live in Bloomington, Indiana (yes I know it's weird). I have not yet partaken in the cinemas here as my wife and I have only lived here for less than a month and will be seeing Old Men this weekend. We are very excited.
So the film started. We learn a little back story, how some woman who looked strangely like Emma Thompson (and turned out to be her, though uncredited) had cured cancer, by using a virus. A good virus. This then turned into three years later and the whole world was crap. The only person left alive in new york was a man driving a brand new Mustang, with his dog, shooting deer with a really big gun. Dr. Robert Neville, played by Will Smith, is slightly crazy, as we find out, seeing him talking to mannequins that he set up in a video rental store, flirting with a certain black haired one in the porn section. Though he loves his dog, Sam (a girl), and goes hunting deer amongst cars, all is not well, beyond the whole, end of the world thing. It seems that humans have mutated into ugly rat skinned UV hating monsters. During the day Dr. Neville and Sam hunt for food, and send out hopeless radio talk shows, and at night, they cower in their steel doored home, hoping the monsters don't break in and eat them. We also learn that during the quarantine of New York his wife and daughter are killed in a Helicopter accident while trying to get to a safe zone. Neville is constantly searching for a cure, testing on rats and rat-people. Soon he meets another immune woman, Anna (Alice Braga) and her boy. They try to convince him that God wants them to go to a colony, safe zone, where other immune people live but Neville has since given up his belief in God and elects to stay. I will stop here as to not spoil the ending.
Good Story, Great Buildings, Ugly Monsters...
Overall I think the movie was a great popcorn movie. I loved the audio, the plot was great, and it kept me watching. It was a definite C+ movie. To me that means, worth seeing, maybe worth buying, but not overly memorable. Above that however I think it fell very short, and I'd have to say after thinking long and hard I was disappointed.
The Good...
So I think the thing that shocked me most was the fact that the family prayed. I know that cinema and pop culture seems to vilify most religious talk in films these days, but being a Christian, I found it redeeming and heart-warming, and as a lover of many secular films as well I found it made the family seem more real, from a non-religiously biased viewpoint. Before getting onto their doomed helicopter the family prayed to keep Dr. Neville safe from harm, and I found it touching, not only because it made it seem a bit more real, but because I felt I would have done the same in the situation. I'm sure the director fought hard to get the scene into the movie, as most films these days are devoid of any speak of religion at all to be politically correct, whether it's Christian or not, and I liked that it was in there. As well the sub plot of finding ones self and ones purpose in the eyes of God was a good one, and I liked that ones beliefs are taken into spotlight in this film when you are, what you think to be, the last man alive. As well well the interaction between the Neville and his dog was wonderful, and you could tell they knew each other well. You felt for the dog as you would a person in the movie and I usually find this to be rare without it being forced. All of this made for a very enjoyable film with beautiful musical score, wonderful sound effects that really shook the theater and one I can't wait to put in my home theater.
The Bad...
Let me be the first to say that the buildings, the structures, the future world scenes were some of the most breathtaking I've ever seen. With a background in computer animation I know how difficult it was to achieve this. The lighting was spectacular and it looked very real. Let me therefore also point out that I think the creatures in this movie are some of the worst looking I've seen in a long time. They look fake, the lighting is off, and there animation looks last minute at best. They look, without any other way to describe them, as giant rat monsters without the big ears and nose. Instead of using real people and adding CG appliqués, similar to Harry Potter where Voldemorte's nose was removed to give a hauntingly disturbing effect, they decided to do the people entirely in CG, including their faces, which look cartoony at best and it was hard to find the characters main villain, played by Dash Mihok, even remotely frightening because of his impossibly fake looking appearance. Again, I feel that the buildings look stunning to say the least, but I can't get past the horrible camera angels and sweeping turns of overly CG scenes and fake looking monsters.
Final Thoughts...
That being said, I still recommend this film to those who haven't seen it. Its a great introspective character study of a man left to himself in a place that seems so familiar, to struggle on his own with being alone and trying to find his faith in God when he feels as though he's been abandoned. If you can get past the ugly creatures and look at great plot within the character himself, then you will thoroughly enjoy yourself. .....C+
-David Bock, Cold Coffee Movies
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